Sound and Fury

The two arguments presented in this documentary were very different but both very interesting. I have had brief interaction in my life with people who are deaf, but not enough to fully understand the discourse. It was eye opening to see people who are deaf describe how they have their own culture. I always pictured it as, we are all human and just some of us can hear while others of us aren't able to. The documentary helped me understand that they consider it a culture because they communicate through their own language of sign language. There were two arguments presented in this documentary. These arguments consisted of whether it should be considered right or considered wrong for a deaf person to get a cochlear implant.

The father of Heather named Peter was strongly against the cochlear implant. He thought that getting an implant meant you were looking down on deaf culture and not being happy with who you are. He also believed that being deaf was a blessing instead of an impairment. This was in some ways difficult for me to grasp, because I am not part of that discourse and I can't imagine life without hearing. It is great that he is happy with who he is, but I think if you have the opportunity to gain hearing and communicate with the hearing world, then you should take it. In some parts of the documentary the father Peter contradicted himself about being successful in his career. It is true that he has a great job but he also admitted that he would not be able to go up any higher in the company because of his deafness. My question is why he wouldn't want his daughter to have all the oppportunities in the hearing world along with being part of deaf culture.

The other family in the documentary was the brother of Peter who's newborn son was also deaf. I think that the brother Chris made the right decision in getting their son Peter the cochlear implant at a young age. This way he would be able to learn how to speak and not have to deal with all of the pain and lonliness that can come with being deaf. He could have the same opportunities as his twin brother who is not deaf. Mari, the wife of Chris shared that in some cases children who go to a deaf school may only be able to read at a 4th grade level when they graduate high school. As a parent I would not want this to be my child, and I would want to give them as many opportunities to be successful as possible.

Even though I feel that the cochlear implant is a great advancement in our technology, the mother of Mari did bring up a good point. She was worried that in the future the cochlear implant would cause deaf culture to slowly die. I agree that this may be a sad thing because sign language and their way of communication is so important to them. Since it is very important, I think that children who recieve the cochlear implant should still be taught sign language. This way they can understand their roots, but have the chance to be part of both cultures. The other thing that I think about is how ridding the world of deafness could actually be a good thing. I think that hearing is wonderful and an amazing part of our bodies, just like sight. Would someone who is blind really say that they would never want to see, because they are part of blind culture?

There will probably always be deaf people born into this world for as long as the world exists. I think the best solution is to implant children who are born deaf with the cochlear implant so they can have every possible opportunity. I believe it is also important to teach them about the history of deaf culture and the language of sign language. In a way this will give them the best of both worlds.